A Study of Cuba's Material Product System, Its Conversion to the System of National Accounts, and Estimation of Gross Domestic Product Per Capita and Growth Rates

This paper presents the results of a survey and critical analysis of Cuban national accounts data. The paper first reviews available Cuban data on the Material Product System (MPS), pointing out their strengths and limitations. Then it carries out a similar analysis with respect to gross domestic product (GDP) estimates based on the System of National Accounts (SNA) and discusses inflation in Cuba and the difficulties in establishing the proper peso/dollar exchange rate. The paper concludes with some judgments regarding the most promising method for establishing Cuban GDP per capita in dollars.